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Hyperlipidemia is a medical condition that can trigger various diseases, one of which is a neurodegenerative or neurological disease. Lactoferrin is known to have multiple protective activities, one of which is antioxidant. This study aimed to determine the potential of lactoferrin bovine to decrease brain MDA levels in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats induced by hyperlipidemia. This study was an in vivo experimental study using 24 male SD rats divided into six groups: normal, negative control, positive control, low-dose bovine lactoferrin (LLF), intermediate-dose bovine lactoferrin (ILF), and high-dose bovine lactoferrin (HLF). The diet in the normal group was the standard diet, and the other groups were induced by a high-fat diet (HFD). The intervention for the positive control group was simvastatin. In contrast, LLF, ILF, and HLF groups were given bovine lactoferrin doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kgBW, respectively. After seven weeks, all rats were necropsied, and their brains were taken to be tested for malondialdehyde (MDA) levels with an MDA assay kit using a spectrophotometer. Data was then analyzed using Shapiro-Wilk and Levene test and continued with one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey test. There were significant differences (p

Background: Hyperlipidemia is a condition that is characterized as an increase in total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood. Lactoferrin is a protein that can serve as an antioxidant. This study aims to determine whether lactoferrin can reduce total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Methods: This study used 24 Sprague–Dawley rat strains, which were divided into six groups: normal group; negative control; positive control; and dose groups 1, 2, and 3. The normal group was given standard feed, whereas the other group was given high cholesterol and fat. The positive control group and dose groups 1, 2, and 3 were given 1.5 mg/kg BW of simvastatin and 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg of BW lactoferrin, respectively. After 6 weeks, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured. Results: This study showed that lactoferrin doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg BW could significantly reduce total cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p < 0.05). Lactoferrin could also significantly reduce activated Kupffer cell and steatosis area in the liver (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Lactoferrin can reduce total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Thus, further research is needed to address the existing bias and confirm that lactoferrin can reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of all available published data related to rats about spermatogenesis to provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of cigarette smoke exposure on the parameters of spermatogenesis. Methods: A comprehensive search of electronic databases including PubMed, EBSCO, ProQuest, Science Direct, Taylor & Francis, Springer Link, GARUDA, and Google Scholar, spanning from their inception until January 29th, 2021, was conducted to retrieve relevant studies and full-text articles evaluating the effect of cigarette smoke exposure on the parameters of spermatogenesis in rats. Data were taken from eligible studies. We use SYRCLE’s Risk of Bias tool for this animal studies. The overall size effect was measured, and forest plots and funnel plots were generated using the statistical software JASP. Results: The present study comprised 23 studies involving 527 rats. The findings of this meta-analysis revealed that parameters of spermatogenesis, such as sperm count, morphology, and viability, were substantially impaired in response to conventional cigarette smoke exposure, exhibiting and aggregate correlation coefficient of 0,70 (95% CI:0.61-0.79, p < .001). Conclusion: Exposure to conventional cigarette smoke has a significant negative effect on spermatogenic parameters in rats, particularly in terms of sperm count, morphology, and viability.

Engineering long-range interacting spin systems with ultracold atoms offers the possibility to explore exotic magnetically ordered phases in strongly-correlated scenarios. Quantum gases in optical cavities provide a versatile experimental platform to further engineer photon-mediated interactions and access the underlying microscopic processes by probing the cavity field. Here, we study a two-component spin Bose-Hubbard system with cavity-mediated interactions. We provide a comprehensive overview of its phase diagram and transitions in experimentally relevant regimes. The interplay of different energy scales yields a rich phase diagram with superfluid and insulating phases exhibiting density modulation or spin ordering. In particular, the combined effect of contact and global-range interactions gives rise to an antiferromagnetically ordered phase for arbitrarily small spin-dependent light-matter coupling, while global-range and inter-spin contact interactions introduce regions of instability and phase separation in the phase diagram. We further study the low energy excitations above the antiferromagnetic phase. Besides particle-hole branches, it hosts spin-exchange excitations with a tunable energy gap. The studied lattice model can be readily realized in cold-atom experiments with optical cavities.

Abstract Background The popularity of air weapons is increasing. They are often viewed as toys, rather than potentially lethal weapons. Regulations on purchase and ownership of air weapons differ from country to country. The majority of fatal and non-fatal air gun accidents involve children less than 16 years of age. Case presentation In this report, we present a fatal case resulting from an accident involving an air gun. An accident happened between two brothers aged 9 and 7 and was initially considered to be a traumatic wound inflicted by falling on a scooter handle. Upon the arrival of an experienced police inspector, the cause of child’s death was called into question and it was discovered that unlicensed, loaded air gun was left unattended in a backyard shed. It was later established that the cause of death was a fatal gunshot wound to the chest and a pointed lead pellet was found in the boy’s liver. Conclusions The public and governments should be advised that air guns can be dangerous weapons which may cause serious injuries and even death. We believe that air guns should be regulated by the same laws that apply to firearms.

Application-specific computational hardware helps to solve the limitations of conventional electronics in solving difficult calculation problems. Here the authors present a general heuristic algorithm to solve NP-Hard Ising problems in a photonics implementation.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

We investigate the applicability of laser assisted tunneling in a strongly interacting one-dimensional (1D) Bose gas (the Tonks–Girardeau gas) in optical lattices. We find that the stroboscopic dynamics of the Tonks–Girardeau gas in a continuous Wannier–Stark-ladder potential, supplemented with laser assisted tunneling, effectively realizes the ground state of 1D hard-core bosons in a discrete lattice with nontrivial hopping phases. We compare observables that are affected by the interactions, such as the momentum distribution, natural orbitals and their occupancies, in the time-dependent continuous system, to those of the ground state of the discrete system. Stroboscopically, we find an excellent agreement, indicating that laser assisted tunneling is a viable technique for realizing novel ground states and phases with hard-core 1D Bose gases.

We propose the realization of a grating assisted tunneling scheme for tunable synthetic magnetic fields in optically induced one- and two-dimensional dielectric photonic lattices. As a signature of the synthetic magnetic fields, we demonstrate conical diffraction patterns in particular realization of these lattices, which possess Dirac points in k -space. We compare the light propagation in these realistic (continuous) systems with the evolution in discrete models representing the Harper–Hofstadter Hamiltonian, and obtain excellent agreement.

This study evaluates biocompatibility and biodegradation properties of PCL/Chitosan/BG-NP/Tetracycline and compares them with commercially available Sure-Derm membrane in Sprague Dawley Rats. Two different membranes (PCL/Chitosan/BG-NP/Tetracycline membrane and SureDerm membrane) were randomly inserted into subcutaneous pouches in the backs of 54 Sprague Dawley rats. The animals were sacrificed at day 7, 21, and 63. Biocompatibility properties (number and distribution of inflammatory cells, necrosis, neovascularisation, fibrosis, fatty infiltrate, tissue integration, tissue ingrowth) was assessed according to DIN EN ISO 10993–6. Biodegradation property was assessed macroscopically to check for membrane degradation rate. In terms of biocompatibility properties, the test membrane had overall irritancy score of 0 at day 7 and 21, and 0.66 at day 63, and it is considered non-irritant. Biodegradation of test membrane is faster compared to SureDerm at day 7 and 21. However, there is no significant difference between the two membranes at day 63. The GTR membrane PCL/Chitosan/BG-NP/Tetracycline is a good membrane with comparable biocompatibility and biodegradation properties to the SureDerm membrane.

Objective: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a very rare cause of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI). The aim of this study was to determine the clinical and microbiological characteristics of these infections., Methods: The medical records of patients with SSTIs due to S. pneumoniae diagnosed at the University Hospital of Guadalajara between January 2012 and December 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Microbiological identification was performed using conventional procedures. Antimicrobial sensitivity was performed using the MicroScan WalkAway-96 plus automatic system and E-test strips following the recommendations of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST)., Results: Fifteen cases of SSTIs were diagnosed. 73,3% of the cases presented underlying diseases, neoplasias being the most frequent. 60% of the cases presented predisposing factors, immunosuppression being the most common. The clinical presentations were: abscesses in different locations, ulcers, surgical wounds, lactational mastitis and necrotizing fasciitis. Polymicrobial infections were detected in 73.3% and the etiology was nosocomial in 6.6%. The clinical course was favorable in 90.9% of the cases. The antibiotics with the highest percentages of sensitivity against S. pneumoniae were cefotaxime, levofloxacin, vancomycin, linezolid and rifampicin., Conclusions: S. pneumoniae should be kept in mind as a possible causative agent of SSTIs, especially in patients with neoplasias and immunosuppression. Its involvement in infections such as lactational mastitis and necrotizing fasciitis should be highlighted. The clinical evolution is favorable in most patients, but it is important to pay special attention to cases of necrotizing fasciitis due to the severity of these infections., (©The Author 2021. Published by Sociedad Española de Quimioterapia. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).)

We describe the characteristics of 11 cases of skin and soft tissue infections due to Cutibacterium (formerly Propionibacterium) avidum. This microorganism should be considered a potential skin pathogen especially in patients with breast infections. The clinical outcome is usually good but serious infections such as necrotizing infections may occur., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Infectious keratitis is a serious ocular infection that can lead to loss of vision. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbiological characteristics of this infection at the University Hospital of Guadalajara (Spain). We retrospectively reviewed all cases diagnosed between January 2010 and December 2016. During the 7-year study period, 297 corneal scrapes corresponding to 298 patients were performed. Antibiotic treatment prior to the culture was administered in 59 cases (19.9%). Contact lens wear was the most common risk factor (33.2%). Bacterial keratitis accounted for 64.6% of cases, viral keratitis for 3.4%, and fungal keratitis for 1%. A total of 241 bacterial strains were identified. Gram-positive isolates represented 87.1%, and gram-negative 12.7%. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus strains were the most common microorganisms isolated (30.3%). When gram-positive microorganisms were analyzed, the sensitivity prevalence rates for vancomycin (VCM), levofloxacin, gentamicin (GM), and tobramycin (TO) were 99.4%, 84.6%, 87.9%, and 88.3%, respectively. For the gram-negative organisms, the sensitivity prevalence rates for ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, GM, and TO were 83.3%, 93.5%, 96.3%, and 100%, respectively. Our study revealed strong predominance of gram-positive microorganisms. We suggest empirically treating bacterial keratitis originating in our area with VCM and TO, especially severe bacterial keratitis and pretreated cases in the community without a clinical response.

Human infections caused by Streptococcus lactarius have not been previously reported. In the present report, we describe a lactational mastitis caused by this organism. The infection occurred in a 28-year-old breast-feeding female, with a 10-days history of moderate pain on the right breast. The patient was cured after antibiotic treatment with levofloxacin for 21 days. Our case shows that S. lactarius should be considered as a cause of lactational mastitis. The introduction of molecular microbiology techniques can be extremely useful for knowing the implication of streptococci in lactational mastitis., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) due to Alcaligenes faecalis is very rare and has never been studied. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical and microbiological characteristics of this infection. We conducted a retrospective review of 5 cases that occurred at our institution over a period of 6 years. All patients had underlying diseases, and infection was secondary to vascular disease or recent surgery in 4 of them. The most common clinical presentations were vascular ulcer infection and surgical site infection. The clinical outcome was uniformly good after treatment, except in 1 patient. In conclusion, A. faecalis should be considered a potential pathogen of SSTI, particularly in patients with vascular diseases or after surgery. The history of contact with water or aqueous solutions should be investigated in all cases. The clinical outcome is usually good, but treatment can be difficult in some cases due to the high level of resistance to commonly used antibiotics.